


It's So Fluffy

by Lady_Phenyx



Series: Fluffvember 2019 [8]
Category: Mumintroll | Moomins Series - Tove Jansson, 楽しいムーミン一家 | Moomin (Anime 1990)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Love Confessions, Multi, Mutual Pining, Snusmumriken | Snufkin Has Paws and a Tail
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 19:16:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21361336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Phenyx/pseuds/Lady_Phenyx
Summary: After a magical encounter leaves Moomin trapped as a stuffed toy and left right where Snufkin will find him, Moomin ends up finding out a few very important things about Snufkin, Snorkmaiden, and himself.Fluffvember Day 8: “Well that just happened.” / “I have no idea what just happened.”
Relationships: Mumintrollet | Moomintroll/Snorkfröken | The Snork Maiden, Mumintrollet | Moomintroll/Snusmumriken | Snufkin, Snorkfröken | The Snorkmaiden/Snusmumriken | Snufkin, Springtime Trio
Series: Fluffvember 2019 [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1533602
Comments: 12
Kudos: 111





	It's So Fluffy

After the incident with the Hobgoblin's hat and all the different issues with the witch, perhaps the people of Moomin Valley should have been more accustomed to strange goings-on and the occasional magical mishap.

Goodness knew they were adapting easily enough to having Alicia in their midst, with all her magic and the occasional mishap. Now that the witch had simmered down, even she was a more welcome sight in the Valley when she chose to appear.

Still, this was taking things a bit too far, Moomin thought.

He'd gone to see if Snufkin had arrived yet – it didn't matter how many years it had been, how many times Snufkin promised he'd come back, Moomin still wanted to be there to greet him as soon as Snufkin came into the valley, to reassure Snufkin that he was wanted and...well, Moomin wasn't sure if Snufkin was ready for the rest of that.

Moomin wasn't sure if he himself was. He still loved Snorkmaiden too, and he didn't want to hurt either of them, but he loved them both so much...

That was beside the point. The point was, he'd been waiting for Snufkin...a bit early, everyone else was only just stirring, so Snufkin wasn't likely to have arrived yet but still...when there had been a titter in his ear, and a small...creature flittering about his face.

Moomin couldn't remember what they'd talked about, but there had been a flash of light, and he'd been turned to...to this.

A small, plush version of himself, being carried along by the...he had to call them a fairy for lack of any other word close enough. They kept dipping as they flew, as Moomin weighed more than the fairy had apparently counted on, and he was too concerned with being dropped to pay attention to where they were going.

He couldn't tell how far they'd gone – far enough no one from home was going to find him, he was sure – before the fairy stopped.

He was lowered to the ground, in the middle of a path, and tried to move, to yell, something. The fairy hovered in front of him, grinning.

“I owe Snufkin one,” she said. “He just doesn't know it. This ought to help even things out.”

“_How is turning me into a stuffed toy supposed to help‽”_ Moomin tried to yell, but no sound emerged.

The fairy heard him, as their head tilted to the side as they grinned mischievously. “You'll see. Don't worry, I set a time limit on the spell, plus a way to break it. You won't be like this forever. Just a week, unless it gets broken early. But hopefully you will learn a few things.”

They shot straight, staring down the path. “Here he comes! Good luck, little Moomintroll!”

Moomin tried again to move, but he couldn't. His limbs were stuffed and motionless, and though he could feel them, they wouldn't respond to him.

The horror of the situation was just starting to sink in when he heard a footstep ahead.

He couldn't look up, but a pair of very familiar boots came into view a moment later.

_Snufkin!_ Moomin's heart leapt.  _Snufkin! Snufkin, pick me up, pick me up, please don't leave me out here!_

“...that's odd,” Snufkin's voice said, and the world spun as Moomin was picked up, staring up into Snufkin's face as he was examined. “What are you doing all the way out here? Goodness, you look just like Moomin!”

Moomin tried in vain to call out to Snufkin but had to admit at last that it was useless.

A second later, his mind stuttered to a halt as he realized that Snufkin's thumb was running along the side of his snout, over and over, soft and gentle in an absent gesture as Snufkin thought, and if he could have he would have blushed crimson.

“...I don't know anyone who would have a stuffed Moomin,” Snufkin muttered to himself. “Or would leave him in the middle of the path...”

He looked back down at Moomin, and his eyes went soft. Oh, Moomin wished Snufkin would look at him like that when he was himself! It was so fond, so soft, so...so full of love and warmth!

He'd never thought Snufkin would look at him like that. Oh, he'd seen Snufkin look at him fondly, but never this much, not with this level of naked affection shining in his eyes.

“Guess I'll have to take you with me,” Snufkin said lightly, brushing a speck off the top of Moomin's head. “We've got about two day's walking until we get to Moomin Valley, maybe someone there will know where you came from. Still so odd...”

He looked at Moomin again, almost as if he were considering something. He glanced around, as if he wanted to be sure no one saw him, and Moomin had an instant to wonder what Snufkin was thinking before he found himself squeezed tight.

Moomin could have wept for happiness as Snufkin hugged him tight, a fireworks show of joy going off inside of him as he was snuggled close for a moment, complete with a small hum from Snufkin as he rubbed his cheek against the plush Moomin.

“Oh, Little My's going to enjoy this,” Snufkin murmured, loosening his hug. “Oh well, so be it.”

He thought for a moment before carefully tucking Moomin into the strap of his knapsack, so Moomin was looking over his shoulder. Snufkin chuckled softly at his own silliness before he began walking again.

\---XXX---

Moomin was propped up on top of Snufkin's bedroll as Snufkin made camp.

Moomin had known that it was rough, to camp the way Snufkin did, without all the things Moominmamma took along when they went on adventures. But knowing it and seeing it were two different things, he was discovering.

He didn't hero-worship Snufkin anymore, that had died down long ago, to be replaced by the crush and later full on love he felt for the vagabond, but the admiration rose again as he watched Snufkin find food as he walked, watched him set up camp and make a fire and start his dinner.

It was a lot of work, and Moomin wondered anew if he'd ever be able to travel with Snufkin. It looked as though he would slow Snufkin down, to the point where they might not make it out before the snows got to them.

He didn't want to infringe on Snufkin's winter travels, he just...wanted to travel with Snufkin someday, see somewhere outside the valley with Snufkin and maybe Snorkmaiden. She'd traveled before settling in Moomin Valley, he knew she could enjoy it.

Snufkin didn't speak as he worked, but he did hum, occasionally singing little snippets of song to himself.

Moomin hadn't heard Snufkin sing before this. Snufkin always played his harmonica, occasionally turning his hand to another instrument, but song?

He was enchanted all over again, and wondered why he never heard Snufkin doing this around them.

Snufkin cleaned his bowl and buried the pot in the ashes next the fire, for breakfast Moomin guessed.

Snufkin got out a notebook and wrote for a bit by the light from the fire and tested snatches of tunes from his harmonica before packing both away, both things Moomin watched in fascination, filled with guilt at watching Snufkin when the vagabond thought he was alone but not having much choice as he couldn't move his eyes.

Snufkin stood and hesitated for a brief moment before picking up Moomin and carrying him into the tent with him.

Snufkin took off his hat and got comfortable on his bedroll, holding Moomin in his lap.

He looked at Moomin solemnly, fingertips tracing over his face.

Something about the small plush made him want to speak, to let out the things he'd been keeping inside.

Well, why not? It was as close as he was going to get to telling Moomin what he thought, seeing as how he couldn't seem to make himself take the chance.

Snufkin sighed, and Moomin ached to be able to speak, to ask him what was wrong and try to help fix it.

“...sometimes, I wonder why I go back every year,” Snufkin said, and Moomin's heart broke, wishing he could wail and beg Snufkin not to mean it no matter how many times he'd told himself he would let Snufkin go if that was what he needed. “I...” Another sigh, and he looked out at nothing. “There's a Moomin. A Moomin I...I love. So much. But he loves Snorkmaiden. And she's beautiful, and brave, and kind, and I wouldn't see her hurt for the world. Because...I love her, too. I love both of them so much, it hurts. I don't know if they...” A huff, and Snufkin scrubbed at his face quickly. Moomin's mind had screeched to a halt at the first confession, and even if he could speak his voice would have been locked tight as Snufkin spoke, hardly able to believe what he was hearing as his heart soared with hope. “If they know about being poly, or even that it's possible. And what's the likelihood they are, anyway? For some vagabond they'd forget soon enough if I stopped coming every year?”

Snufkin curled up on his bedroll, setting Moomin down in front of him and looking at him with a small smile, the tail that they'd only started seeing recently curling around his legs, resting his crossed arms on his knees as he looked at the stuffed Moomin fondly. “Oh, I'll be fine in the morning. I've never told anyone any of this. I've got a reputation in Moomin Valley, you know. I don't know why I'm telling you, except you look so like him.”

He reached out and touched the tip of Moomin's snout lightly. “I just can't see a way to tell them any of this that doesn't end in someone being hurt. Most likely me, but they're so kind hearted, knowing they hurt me would likely hurt them too. At least, once Snorkmaiden gets over her jealousy and Moomin stops panicking.” A chuckle, and, “No wonder I used to refuse to return anywhere. Then again, there's no one like those two anywhere else. I would know, I've been quite a few places.”

Moomin's head was whirling still. Snufkin loved him? Loved  _him_ ? And Snorkmaiden, too?

Moomin didn't think Snufkin and Snorkmaiden spent that much time together, and felt a stab of guilt at not being sure.

He thought it over for a moment as Snufkin went quiet, thinking over something of his own. They had been spending more time together the last few years, Moomin remembered suddenly.

They had been dropping off as they grew up and Snorkmaiden took being a girlfriend more seriously, all of them not being a group as often...until Snufkin was there, gently pulling them all along, reminding them of how good it felt to do things together.

They weren't all attached at the hip – even he and Snorkmaiden had days when they didn't see each other.

So now offhand comments, things he hadn't remembered, were surfacing. A comment about a new meadow, about spending the day with Snufkin.

Snufkin had always preferred to go on adventures with Moomin, but...well. Moomin would have to ask Snorkmaiden if...when, the fairy said there was a time limit on this spell...when he was back to normal.

Maybe...maybe it wasn't as impossible as Moomin had once thought.

Snufkin chuckled again, and Moomin's attention snapped back to him.

“You know how bad I have it?” he said, picking up Moomin, who still thrilled at the contact, rolling onto his back as he held Moomin overhead. “I picked up specialty teas at a market I was passing through,” he whispered to Moomin, as if imparting a great secret. “I never keep things I don't need. But I saw them and realized how much Snorkmaiden would love to have them, and before I knew it I'd gotten them. And I keep seeing things that remind me of them. Like some sort of lovesick fool. Or like my father,” he laughed softly. “Half the things I write are about them anymore. I can't show anyone my notebooks anymore. Not that I did before, but...well.”

Snufkin chuckled softly, without humor. “It's always strange. I want people to connect to, but they always expect something out of my other than what I am. So I can't stay. I won't let anyone put me into a box. Now I have people who don't mean to and I can't open up all the way still, out of being afraid to find out I did get put into one when we weren't looking.”

He drooped after a moment, the tail Moomin secretly longed to touch wrapping around them as he rolled back in his bed roll onto his side. After a moment, Snufkin tucked the Moomin plush in with him, hugging him tight to his chest.

“It doesn't matter. I'll keep going back until it hurts too much, but even then I'll probably keep going. It might hurt more not to see them at all. Even if it is hopeless.”

A single tear slid down his cheek, and Moomin ached to scream, to cry out to Snufkin that it wasn't hopeless. He was loved, Moomin loved him, and he loved Snorkmaiden, he was so sorry he hadn't understood before.

But he couldn't do anything but be held.

Snufkin slipped into sleep, breathing evenly and deeply, and with no other alternatives, Moomin let himself slip into the bliss of Snufkin holding him tight as he slept, feeling Snufkin's breath stir his fur and hearing the beat of his precious heart.

\---XXX---

Snufkin was more cheerful in the morning, just as he'd said he would be, acting as if he hadn't been upset at all the night before.

It worried Moomin, just a bit, that Snufkin hid it so well.

Snufkin finished breaking down his camp, hoisting his pack onto his back and picking up Moomin.

He looked down at the plush, tilting his head. “It's strange, but I do feel better, even if you are just a toy,” he said. “I suppose I was holding that in too long. I don't usually like letting it all out. Oh well, time for more walking. Have to enjoy the last of my trip. Good thing we're almost at Moomin Valley, though. I'm looking forward to Moominmamma's 'welcome back' party.”

Snufkin set off with Moomin tucked into the straps of his knapsack again.

He hummed to himself as he walked, taking out his harmonica and passing it from hand to hand.

A bird chirped at them from overhead, and Snufkin chuckled before playing a brief snatch of melody. The bird sang it back, and the game continued as they walked, the fascinated Moomin drinking it in deeply.

Snufkin finally launched into his new spring tune, and Moomin listened closely as they stepped out of the woods and made their way towards the bridge.

Moomin House was buzzing, and Moominmamma called out to Snufkin as he reached the middle of the bridge.

“Snufkin! Welcome back!” she called. She made her way down to the bridge, and Snufkin kept walking to meet her. “Have you seen Moomin? It seems he woke early but no one's seen him.”

Snufkin shook his head. “I'm sorry, the only odd thing I've seen was this,” he said, carefully pulling Moomin from his knapsack. “Do you think it's Snorkmaiden's? I found it on the way, but I can't think of anyone else who would have something like this.”

“How strange...it's very realistic, isn't it?” Moominmamma said, looking over the plush toy. “I'm not sure. Snorkmaiden went to see if her brother was still awake – she thought maybe he got Moomin caught up in something. Why don't you set your things down and go check? I would appreciate it, and I know they're eager to see you. Just as I am.” She leaned forward and brushed a brief Moomin kiss over Snufkin's forehead, Snufkin closing his eyes and accepting the affection happily.

Snufkin smiled and nodded easily at the request, leaving his knapsack on the veranda and heading off.

Little My caught up to Snufkin as he made his way towards the Snork house.

“...so...going to go another year without saying anything?” she asked.

“I thought we agreed you would drop it,” he replied steadily.

“We did then. That was last year, and this is now. Can I help it if I don't like seeing my little brother hurting? Either of them?”

Snufkin didn't answer, and after a few steps, Little My honed in on the plush.

“What's that? Lemmie see!”

Snufkin held it up out of her reach. “I found it. I'm going to see if it's Snorkmaiden's.”

“Surprised you'll let it out of your sight,” Little My mumbled.

_She knew‽ _ Moomin thought in dismay. Did she know how he...?

Given the way she was looking at Snufkin, well...

“You should just tell him. I think you'd be surprised.”

She totally knew.

They were at the Snork's house, and Little My was surprisingly quiet as Snufkin asked for Snorkmaiden.

He stiffened in surprise when Snorkmaiden went for the hug – slow, telegraphing what she was doing so he could dodge it gracefully – but let her do it, going so far as to shyly hug back, just a bit.

“I haven't seen Moomin at all,” she said before Snufkin could ask. “I'm very glad to see you, though. You're early this year. Is everything all right? Oh, what a cute plush!”

“I found it, I thought maybe it was yours...?”

Snorkmaiden shook her head, carefully taking Moomin. “Oh, no. I suppose he's yours, now.”

“He'll just get dirty with me,” Snufkin said, dipping his head slightly to hide his eyes.

“Well, he might not mind that,” Snorkmaiden said shyly. “I'll hold onto him for now, but maybe you'd like to take him with you when you leave this winter. Let me put him inside and we can go looking for Moomin together.”

\---XXX---

Staying inside Snorkmaiden's room without her was amazing...ly boring.

There was only so much Moomin could do as a plush toy – namely, sit where he was placed, look around in the direction he was pointed, and think.

Well...it had been awhile since he'd really looked around Snorkmaiden's room, and Snufkin had given him a lot to think about.

Could it really work? The three of them, together?

He loved Snufkin, and Snorkmaiden, and Snufkin loved them both, but Snorkmaiden...it could be so easy sometimes for her to get upset about a lack of attention, and he had no idea how she felt sometimes.

His eyes traveled over her room – or, at least, the parts he could see, given he couldn't move his head at the moment.

There was a collection of seashells on Snorkmaiden's dresser, and quite a few dried flowers in frames arraigned on the wall behind it. A stack of books and notebooks teetered on the edge, book marks sticking out of all of them.

Moomin could only make out a few titles – _Flowers and Their Meanings,_ _A Guide to the Wilderness, A Case Study of Mumriks, Love's Captive, _and _Love in All Its Forms - Poetry Selections From Around the World_.

An odd group, he thought.

Then he lost himself in a spiral of thoughts again – about loving Snufkin, and Snorkmaiden, about the confessions Snufkin had made last night and how hopeless Snufkin had sounded about it, and what he could possibly do to find a way they could all be happy.

\---XXX---

Snorkmaiden threw the door shut behind her, flopping down onto the bed.

She grabbed a pillow and shoved her face into it before letting out a short scream that seemed to go on and on before she was finally finished, slowly lowering the pillow and letting it fall to the floor.

Her eyes fell on the stuffed Moomin, and she rolled over to grab him, holding him overhead as she rolled back onto her back, and Moomin was struck with a sharp moment of deja vu.

“I can't tell Moomin this, but you'll do,” she said, and Moomin's heart sank. “Oh, how is it you can care about someone so much and love them but they can still manage to annoy the ever loving fur out of you‽” she demanded. “Oh, that Snufkin! He's so oblivious!”

She sighed. “Then again, so are you, Moomin. I know you've got a crush on Snufkin, I thought you two were going to start dating when we met you. I know he's got it hard for you. I've known him long enough to figure that out. You still care about me, too, though, don't you? The way you look at me looks a lot like how you look at Snufkin, so I think you do. Just...Oooh!”

She rolled over, holding Moomin close to her chest. “I know I get jealous. I keep thinking how Moomin has to care more about Snufkin than me, and how Snufkin likes being around Moomin more. I...” she buried her snout in the fur on top of Moomin's head. “We're idiots, aren't we. And someone's going to end up hurt. And we don't know where Moomin is. I know he's grown and can take of himself, but he never misses Snufkin coming back, so where could he be? He's got both of us so worried, even if Snufkin's trying not to show it I can read him by now, and he's so worried. Everyone can tell, he's not hiding it well this time.”

She sighed, her mind going back to Snufkin.

“...how can you love someone so much while they manage to get under your skin so badly‽” she said again. “Oh, I know we're opposites in so many ways, but...” she rolled onto her back again, staring at the ceiling. “He wouldn't even consider it, I'm sure. We'd just tie him down or some such thing. And I love Moomintroll...it's just...oh, why do things have to be so complicated!”

Why do they, Moomin thought. If she feels like this...and I feel like I do, and Snufkin like he does, then...

The spark of hope that lit in Moomin's chest grew stronger.

\---XXX---

When Moomin tried to describe the sensation later, the best he could do was to call it “a full body sneeze”.

But one moment, he was a plush toy, and the next, he was his proper form again, tumbling from the bridge where Snorkmaiden had placed him between herself and Snufkin as they talked.

He hit the water with a massive splash, though thankfully it was deep enough he didn't hurt himself yet shallow enough he could easily bob back up to the surface.

From above, Snorkmaiden and Snufkin stared down at him, their faces blank with shock and disbelief.

“So...that just happened,” Moomin said cautiously.

“Well, I have no idea _what_ just happened. Moomin...you were the...?” Snorkmaiden said slowly.

Moomin paddled water and nodded. “There was a fairy thing, and then I was...”

Beside Snorkmaiden, Snufkin scrambled to his feet. His face had gone pale, and his paws were clasped over his mouth, his tail wrapped closely around him and the fur slicked down tight.

He was staring at Moomin, and Moomin remembered clearly all the things Snufkin had told to the plush toy, never thinking Moomin would hear him. They stared at each other in silence for long moments, neither sure what to do.

Until silently, Snufkin turned and fled.

\---XXX---

Snorkmaiden had been torn between following Snufkin and helping Moomin.

Moomin called up to her, and she turned to him. “He'll need a little time. He might have...said a few things to me when I was a plush he didn't know he was saying to me,” Moomin said, blushing faintly. “But, ah...we need to talk. You and me, and Snufkin.”

Snorkmaiden's fur went pale, then brightened to pink tinged with grey as she remembered the things she had told Moomin in his plush form.

Moomin nodded. “Yeah. That. Exactly. Would you believe you were right and all three of us are idiots?”

\---XXX---

Snufkin curled beside a stream, knees to his chest and arms wrapped around his legs, his tail wrapped firmly around it all.

Running off had the bad side effects of making one feel foolish after and unsure when to return or what to do when one did.

There was noise from behind him, noise he recognized as Moomin and Snorkmaiden. Snufkin didn't move, even when they came and sat beside him.

“So...” Moomin said slowly, and Snufkin curled up tighter, waiting for the inevitable rejection. “Being a plush was...um...enlightening. Did you know all three of us are in love with the other two and we've all been keeping quiet so we don't hurt each other?”

Of all the things he'd expected Moomin to say, that hadn't even made the list except in Snufkin's most closely held fantasies. His head whipped up and around to stare at the other two.

Snorkmaiden was a bright pink, and Moomin's snout wasn't much better. “It's true!” Moomin said. “And...and it's going to mean we have to talk about how we feel a lot more, and I know you don't like doing that but it's the only way it's going to work. But you both told me how much you care about me and each other. Snorkmaiden still isn't sure she believes me, but I know what you said. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget hearing you say it.”

Snufkin felt himself beginning to blush and looked back at the water. “I brought special tea back for you,” he said quietly, seeing Snorkmaiden perk up out of the corner of his eye as he confirmed what Moomin had told her. “And I have the worst poems ever written in my travel journal about both of you.”

“Moomin didn't want to tell me what you said, just that, well, you felt the same way I did,” Snorkmaiden said. “Except for the tea. The rest was still private. But I want to try,” she said firmly. “He's right. I do love him, and I love you, and I want to date both of my boys, even when they drive me mad. I was...I'm just scared that there won't be time for me, while the two of you are together.”

“I thought there was no place for me and there was no way you'd feel the same,” Snufkin said, still staring at the water, unable to look at them yet. “I just...didn't want anyone to get hurt.”

Slowly, shyly, Moomin took his paw. Snufkin uncurled and leaned against Moomin's side, and it was Moomin's turn to stare straight ahead as his brain stopped functioning.

“It was never the place that brought me back. It was the people. Especially you two.”

“So...we're all dating now? All three of us?” Snorkmaiden said.

Snufkin chuckled. “Yes, Princess. I think I might have just broken Dove, though.”

Abruptly Moomin began laughing, throwing his arms around Snorkmaiden and Snufkin and dropping the three of them to the ground.

They landed partially on top of him, all three of them laughing as he brushed Moomin kisses over their faces.

They laid like that, in the spring sunshine, tangled together, until the sun began to set and they made their way back to Moomin House together, hand in hand.


End file.
